Nitrogen tire filling apparatus and method
View Patent ↗An apparatus is provided for filling vehicle tires with nitrogen and especially to a customer operated tire inflation system for filling vehicle balloon tires with nitrogen. A plurality of tanks of nitrogen are mounted for rotation on a lazy susan and are connected to a hose on a reel having a tire filling valve on the end thereof for unreeling and filling a vehicle tire. A credit or debit card reader controls a hose reel lock and flow from the nitrogen tanks.
1. An apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of nitrogen holding tanks supported on a lazy susan in said housing for rotation thereon;
a plurality of tubes, each tube being connected to one of said plurality of nitrogen holding tanks for releasing nitrogen therethrough;
a hose connected to each of said plurality of tubes for receiving nitrogen from said plurality of nitrogen holding tanks, said hose having a tire filling valve on the end thereof;
a hose reel mounted in said housing and having a portion of said hose reeled thereon;
an electrically operated flow valve coupled to said hose for controlling the flow of nitrogen therethrough;
valve control means for actuating said electrically operated flow valve to control the flow of nitrogen from said plurality of nitrogen holding tanks through said hose; and
hose locking means for releasably locking said hose against release from said reel;
whereby a vehicle tire can be filled with nitrogen responsive to actuating said electrically operated valve to release nitrogen from said nitrogen holding tanks.
2. The apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen in accordance with claim 1 in which said electrically operated flow valve is credit card actuated with a credit card mechanism.
3. The apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen in accordance with claim 2 in which hose locking means includes a solenoid hose lock.
4. The apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen in accordance with claim 3 in which said valve control means includes timing means for controlling the flow of nitrogen for a predetermined time once said electrically operated valve is actuated.
5. The apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen in accordance with claim 3 in which said valve control means includes a CPU.
6. The apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen in accordance with claim 1 in which said hose includes a swivel joint, allowing said plurality of nitrogen tanks to rotate on in said housing.
7. A method of filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen comprising the steps of:
selecting an apparatus for filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen having a plurality of nitrogen holding tanks supported on a lazy susan for rotation thereon, each nitrogen holding tank having a tube coupled thereto for releasing nitrogen therethrough, each said tube being coupled to a reeled hose having a tire filling valve on the end thereof, said apparatus having a solenoid flow valve therein for controlling the flow of nitrogen from said plurality of nitrogen tanks, said reeled hose having a solenoid lock for releasably locking said reel in a reeled-in position and a credit card actuating mechanism interconnected to operate said reeled hose lock and said solenoid flow valve to control the flow of nitrogen therethrough;
positioning a vehicle adjacent said apparatus;
swiping a credit card in said credit card actuating mechanism to release said solenoid lock to release said reeled hose and unlock said solenoid flow valve to release nitrogen flow through said hose; and
placing said tire filling valve onto a vehicle tire valve stem to fill said tire with nitrogen from said plurality of nitrogen tanks;
whereby a person can add nitrogen to a vehicle tire.
8. A method of filling a vehicle tire with nitrogen in accordance with claim 7 including the step of actuating a timer to control the length of time the solenoid flow valve is open to control the flow of nitrogen from said plurality of nitrogen tanks.